Seizing the Initiative...Part 1

After verifying that Dumbass was indeed gone, I took some time to examine the control panel for this ‘Transit Point’. It was a web of arcane symbols inlaid in a black panel. The palm tree symbol seemed to have a bit of an afterglow to it, perhaps residue from the trip that he just took. Just above each of the inlaid symbols, there were small colored crystals that were connected to the symbols by a small inlaid line of silvery metal. The green crystal above the palm trees was still pulsing slightly. I reached over to that crystal and placed my thumb on it, applied gradually increasing pressure until I could heard the crystal crack under the pressure. I pushed down sharply at that sound and was very satisfied when the crystal shattered and all residual glowing disappeared immediately.

I didn’t think it was going to take long for them to figure out that I didn’t cooperate in quite the way they were expecting me to.

I left the other crystals eight crystals in place and looked over to the door separating the transit room from the control room where I was standing. There were some very sturdy locks on this side of the door, probably to prevent unexpected or unwanted visitors from using the facility. Well that worked both damn ways now, didn’t it? I went over to the door and slid the large metal locking bolts into place.

Above the window between the control room and the transit room, there was a metal shield that appeared to be able to be brought down and locked as well. I reached up, moved the bolts holding it in the open position and dropped the thick metal shield down into place, effectively cutting off all visual contact between the transit room and the control room. I slid the thick metal bolts into place that locked the shield down into this closed position.

Given the size and strength of that door and the bulletproof glass and now the metal shield, I doubted anyone showing up in that room was going to be able to get out unless they had some explosives, which would pretty much doom themselves as well. I didn’t think I would even be strong enough to get through either the door or the window without some serious tools and a lot of time. That should keep the recipients of my surprise delivery from sending any surprises back my way, for now anyway.

As I was looking around at the various computers and monitors in the room, I could see one security monitor that appeared to be monitoring the gate in the fence at the driveway. I could see the headlights of several vehicles approaching the gate. Interesting. This was getting to be a busy place.

It would take several minutes for them to get to the parking area, so I went to my bag, pulled out the two batons, and decided to start taking out the lights.

I used the batons to knock out each of the long fluorescent bulbs in the ceiling overhead, a shower of sparks and broken glass followed each blow, the room growing darker with each bulb destroyed.

A second security monitor next to the first showed the parking area, so I had plenty of warning as the first of five SUV’s pulled up next to the one that brought me in. I poked out the first screen of the first one, reducing even more the light available in the room as I watched several men in dark suits get out of the first vehicle, with a groggy looking, hand cuffed Jim being dragged out of the back seat. The men were struggling with his strength and bulk, Jim wasn’t looking too pleased, as he seemed to be cussing out the men holding him.

Several of the men wore windbreakers with the letters “Federal Agent” emblazoned on the front and the back in big yellow letters, the kinds of jackets that are often worn on high-profile raids by federal agencies. Of course, even with the shitty security camera in place, I recognized a couple of the goons as some of Dr. Geek’s Lab Rats, not agents at all if my memory served.

The second vehicle pulled up and more men in jackets piled out, this time I could recognize Cerrydwen’s leather jacket, although there was a sack or something like that thrown over her head, and of ocurse her hands were cuffed behind her. She stood calmly and without apparent resistance as another man struggled with a second captive from that vehicle. Ravyn’s slim form was dragged out. She squirmed and kicked, lashing out at her captors, even though her head was covered. One of the men holding her legs doubled over as she kicked him in the gonads, but another man stepped in quickly and seemed to inject her with something, somthing that caused her to go limp almost immediately.

A third vehicle pulled up, as the men from the first two were just getting organized. I didn’ take any more time to watch though, I had some rescuing to do. I smashed the last monitor, which extinguished the last flickering light in the room. I waited for a second to get my bearing in the total darkness and for my nightvision to kick in.

Once I adjusted, I was in motion. I started pushing chairs out into random points in the middle of the room, they would hopefully become useful distractions when the shit hit the fan. Realizing that my time was very limited, I moved into position behind where the door would open into the room. I wanted to give as little warning as possible to these assholes.

So, El Diablito had lied right to my face, big fucking surprse there, eh? Well, now what little niggling conscience I had for breaking my part of the agreement was gone, they were obviously going after my friends as well anyway, using the guise of still being federal agents. I figured my friends hadn’t resisted much when a platoon of what appeared to be federal agents swarmed the casino and used the local police and casino security folks as dupes to help round up the ORCs who had helped me out.

As I stood there waiting for the coming fight, I took a quick second to slip out of my body and walk in Spirit Form through the wall and out into the night. I was taking a bit of a chance, since I didn’t know if there were any Casters among the fake feds, but it would make my surprise even more effective if Cerrydwen and some of the others could be aware of things ahead of time.

The last of the vehicles was still pulling up when I got out there, a total of about 20 of the fake agents were milling about, lining up the prisoners along the outside wall of the building. Ravyn’s unconscious form was the closest to the door. I lucked out, as the goons all appeared either too busy with the prisoners to notice me, or were not sensitive enough to do so. Of course Papa Locks and his pet weren’t there, as it would be hard to pass either of them off as an agent, and El Diablito was likely in Florida cursing at my own little surprise.

Jim, Cerrydwen, the Frau, John Red Bear and two of his young students, Herne and his wife were all being lined up, facing the wall, behind Ravyn’s limp form. I moved up riight next Cerrydwen’s right ear and whispered, “It’s Rusty, I am inside and will be attacking once they get inside. Be ready.”

Her covered head bobbed just once, almost imperceptibly.

I looked down at her cuffed hands and concentrated on something that John Red Bear had once told me I should be able to do in Spirit Form, if I practiced, and felt the locking mechanism of the hand cuffs. At least this was something I had practiced countless times in real life, with all of the practice I had as a local cop, using hand cuffs. I concetrated on forming a semi-solid key out of the energy that I saw swirling everywhere. Once it was lined up properly, I exerted my will on it, and succeeded in turning the lock on the right cuff.

Cerrydwen’s head bobbed one more time, obviously she had felt the trick work.

As the last load of men were getting out of the last vehicle, I could see Dr. Bernstein getting out, appearing to take command of the men.

Hurriedly, I moved over to John Red Bear and Herne in succession, doing for them what I had done for Cerrydwen, unlocking the right cuff of each of them. Both could feel my presence and understood what was going on, even though they each had covered heads. Not knowing if Moira, Herne’s wife was a caster or not, I approached her the same, and found that she was indeed very sensitive. Her head cocked as I gave her the same message as the others and unlocked her right cuff as well.

The group of fake agents was finally done milling about and appeared to be getting ready to move when Dr. Bernstein reached for his cellphone. Worried about my surpise being messed up, I swooped over to the phone and pushed my Spirit Hand through his hand and into the phone itself as he pulled it up to his ear. Using all of the rage I had built up to this point I focused on funnelling that energy into the phone itself.

Dr. Geek gave a very satisfying yelp and dropped the suddenly very hot and sparking phone from his ear onto the ground. The gadget broke into several rather useless pieces.

The men gathered around him looked almost as shaken as he did, I heard him blurt out dismissively, “That was probably the Director telling us to hurry the hell up. Damn phones, I’ll be getting a better model for the next one. All right men, let’s get this show rolling, we’ve got lots to do tonight.”

That was my signal to swoop back through the wall, but on my way I made sure to apply my newfound skill on Jim’s right cuff as well. I couldn’t warn him like the others, but at least he would be able to see what was going on and would have a chance to react with free hands. We’d need his strength.

My final Spirit Walking act before I slipped back into my body was to lean through the wall and touch my head to Ravyn’s unconscious head. I could feel the fierce Phoenix looking back at me with angry, glowing eyes, almost like it blamed me for the mess her mistress was in. I whispered into Ravyn’s subconscious, “You better wake up darling or you’re gonna miss all the fun.”

I could feel just the tiniest bit of stirring deep inside, so as a last straw, I went for the big guns. “You know, you have a very nice tushie. Can’t wait to see you naked again!”

I felt a roaring flare of very conscious indignation in response to this. If she was half as strong as I suspected, whatever they had injected her with would be burned out of her system very soon. I slipped back through the wall and jolted into place just as one of the goons raised his own proximity card to the locking pad next to the door. The small clicking sound I heard signalled that the mechanism worked as designed, and the door openned easily to the dark room where I was now waiting and ready to pounce.